Craziest exhibit ideas?

Daktari JG said:
Kinda crazy but feasible idea. A supersized version of Naples Zoo Lake Victoria.
This would have to be in a tropical Central or South American location (probably Brazil).
A zoo that has a 100-200 acre lake dotted with islands. The lake could contain amazon manatees and pink river dolphins. Islands mostly with primates but could be set up to attract bird colonies . Perhaps some sort of glass barrier to keep other critters on the islands like sloths, anteaters etc
Some sort of boat or maybe motorized canoe ride to tour the islands and search for manatees and dolphins.
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Sounds like an idea I've had for a river safari park. Create a river that cuts through a safari park, and rather than driving through, you take a boat to see the animals.
 
I think there will be a tropical dome and a coral reef aquarium as a lake/pool with underwater viewing. So the dome will contain birds like lories, lorikeets, fruit doves, and perching birds, while the aquarium contains coral reef fish as well as turtles, rays, and blacktip reef sharks. Maybe some terrariums containing snakes, frogs, lizards, squirrels, civets, or marmosets can be placed next to the aquarium. By the way, the shape of this coral reef aquarium is open and gives the impression of being in an outdoor environment because I was influenced by the coral reef tanks at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium and Waikiki Aquarium.
 
Jonathan Harry said:
I think there will be a tropical dome and a coral reef aquarium as a lake/pool with underwater viewing. So the dome will contain birds like lories, lorikeets, fruit doves, and perching birds, while the aquarium contains coral reef fish as well as turtles, rays, and blacktip reef sharks. Maybe some terrariums containing snakes, frogs, lizards, squirrels, civets, or marmosets can be placed next to the aquarium. By the way, the shape of this coral reef aquarium is open and gives the impression of being in an outdoor environment because I was influenced by the coral reef tanks at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium and Waikiki Aquarium.
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This would be a cool idea to do as a really big exhibit, but believe it or not there already is one that’s kind of like this here in the US. The Minnesota Zoo’s Tropics Trail actually has an entire coral reef exhibit that you can view from both above and below. The Trail itself is indeed pretty much a tropics dome that has some free roaming animals. They did this intentionally to represent coral reefs as “the jungles/rainforests of the sea”. The idea is really fantastic and is one of my favorite zoo exhibits ever.
 
Local_Shark said:
This would be a cool idea to do as a really big exhibit, but believe it or not there already is one that’s kind of like this here in the US. The Minnesota Zoo’s Tropics Trail actually has an entire coral reef exhibit that you can view from both above and below. The Trail itself is indeed pretty much a tropics dome that has some free roaming animals. They did this intentionally to represent coral reefs as “the jungles/rainforests of the sea”. The idea is really fantastic and is one of my favorite zoo exhibits ever.
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The Tropics Trail also has free-roaming waterfowl which may occasionally be seen using this exhibit.
 
Local_Shark said:
This would be a cool idea to do as a really big exhibit, but believe it or not there already is one that’s kind of like this here in the US. The Minnesota Zoo’s Tropics Trail actually has an entire coral reef exhibit that you can view from both above and below. The Trail itself is indeed pretty much a tropics dome that has some free roaming animals. They did this intentionally to represent coral reefs as “the jungles/rainforests of the sea”. The idea is really fantastic and is one of my favorite zoo exhibits ever.
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Yes, that's right, but the difference is that at the Minnesota Zoo, there is a partition/net that separates the coral reef tank area from the bird aviary which contains emerald dove (Chalcophaps indica), Asian fairy-bluebird (Irena puella), golden-crested myna (Ampeliceps coronatus), black-necked stilt (Himantopus mexicanus), etc. If my idea is between birds and coral reef tanks combined, so once in a while there is a moment when a lory or lorikeet wants to drink water from the coral reef tank and accidentally meets an angelfish for example. Or a crowned pigeon perches on a visitor's chair near the glass of the coral reef tank and there meets a zebra shark. That's interesting.
 
the idea is cool, but I'm guessing there won't be a lot of birds drinking the salt water more than once
 
Jonathan Harry said:
Yes, that's right, but the difference is that at the Minnesota Zoo, there is a partition/net that separates the coral reef tank area from the bird aviary which contains emerald dove (Chalcophaps indica), Asian fairy-bluebird (Irena puella), golden-crested myna (Ampeliceps coronatus), black-necked stilt (Himantopus mexicanus), etc. If my idea is between birds and coral reef tanks combined, so once in a while there is a moment when a lory or lorikeet wants to drink water from the coral reef tank and accidentally meets an angelfish for example. Or a crowned pigeon perches on a visitor's chair near the glass of the coral reef tank and there meets a zebra shark. That's interesting.
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Yeah it’s true that the main aviary section is enclosed as I recall, but I’m fairly sure there are other free roaming birds in the building that theoretically could come by the open aquarium area, as @birdsandbats mentioned. Still your idea is definitely more involved and certainly interesting to consider other interactions.
 
I have many crazy ideas for zoo innovations and visitor experiences. I have an idea with a colonial-era theme where all the enclosures are designed to be a mix of land and sea animals.

The first is Welcome to Australia, where there will be an enclosure for the common wombat (Vombatus ursinus) plus underground burros or shelters with indoor viewing for visitors, such as at Taman Safari Prigen. The difference is that for this indoor wombat shelter, on top is a coral reef aquarium containing native Australian fish such as harlequin tuskfish (Choerodon fasciatus), horseshoe leatherjacket (Meuschenia hippocrepis), ornate boxfish (Aracana ornata), white-barred boxfish (Anoplocapros lenticularis), and longsnout boarfish (Pentaceropsis recurvirostris). So it looks like the wombat has entered the shelter but it can see the fish above the wombat. I made it this way because wombats are nocturnal animals, so they are more active in the shelter/burrow when visitors come to the zoo. So the solution is to make something interesting and creative in the wombat shelter, which visitors can witness.

Opposite the indoor wombat viewing combined with the coral reef tank, there is a mixed-species enclosure for fairy penguins (Eudyptula novaehollandiae). For underwater viewing, it will be inhabited by several sharks that do not harm penguins, such as the blind shark (Brachaelurus waddi), Australian marbled catshark (Atelomycterus macleayi), and banded sand catshark (Atelomycterus fasciatus). This enclosure was actually inspired by the African penguin enclosure at the San Diego Zoo. Next to it is an enclosure for greater bilby (Macrotis lagotis) and of course there is a combination of an enclosure with a coral reef tank which this time contains old wife (Enoplosus armatus), Rainfords's butterflyfish (Chaetodon rainfordi), magpie perch (Cheilodactylus nigripes), Barrier Reef chromis (Chromis nitida), Azuma perchlet (Plectranthias azumanus), moonlighter (Tilodon sexfasciatus), southern blue devil (Paraplesiops meleagris), and Vanderbilt's chromis (Pycnochromis vanderbilti). Because greater bilbies require an arid environment to be comfortable, the viewing glass for greater bilbies installed from the replica of the burrow (similar to the naked mole rat enclosure at Singapore Zoo) can be made into a cave hole model.

Near the wombat outdoor enclosure, there is an open enclosure for mixed-species reptiles such as central bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps), shingleback skink (Tiliqua rugosa), and spiny-tailed monitor (Varanus acanthurus). In the middle of the enclosure, there is a tree-shaped terrarium, similar to the one in this link
https://customreptilehabitats.com/cdn/shop/articles/amazing-reptile-terrariums-1.jpg?v=1565465406
This terrarium consists of 3 tree replicas and 9 cages. The first tree with a large cylindrical aquarium will be filled with weedy seadragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus) and leafy seadragon (Phycodurus eques). The second tree which has 4 aquariums each will be filled with western rainbowfish (Melanotaenia australis), dwarf rainbowfish (Melanotaenia maccullochi), blue dragon slug (Glaucus atlanticus), and Australian green tree frog (Ranoidea caerulea). The third tree which is the same as the second tree will be filled by the magnificent tree frog (Ranoidea splendida), Burton's legless lizard (Lialis burtonis), Centralian rough knob-tail gecko (Nephrurus amyae), and southern corroboree frog (Pseudophryne corroboree). Not far from the enclosure, there will be a captive breeding room for the corroboree frog, which is of course a special room for staff.
 
Then there is a zone called Port Eden which is inspired by the 1996 series The Adventure of Sinbad. This zone contains animals from the Middle East. The main spotlight in this zone is the Persian leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana), which for observation viewing will be in the form of Baghlah, an Arabian sailing ship. In the observation viewing for the leopard, there is also a coral reef tank that is open above it, so that there is underwater viewing when visitors are on the ship's deck. The coral reef tank will contain sohal surgeonfish (Acanthurus sohal), purple tang (Zebrasoma xanthurum), broomtail wrasse (Cheilinus lunulatus), yellow-ear angelfish (Apolemichthys xanthotis), four-line wrasse (Larabicus quadrilineatus), minute wrasse (Minilabrus striatus), sunrise dottyback (Pseudochromis flavivertex), orchid dottyback (Pseudochromis fridmani), striped dottyback (Pseudochromis sankeyi), blue-cheeked butterflyfish (Chaetodon semilarvatus), diagonal butterflyfish (Chaetodon fasciatus), crown butterflyfish (Chaetodon paucifasciatus), hooded butterflyfish (Chaetodon larvatus), white-faced butterflyfish (Chaetodon mesoleucos), Arabian butterflyfish (Chaetodon melapterus), and Red Sea clownfish (Amphiprion bicinctus).

Next to it, there is an aviary zone that is made with a model of islands. This aviary contains birds of prey like bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus), Eurasian griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus), Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus), desert golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos homeyeri), Eurasian osprey (Pandion haliaetus haliaetus), and Barbary falcon (Falco peregrinus pelegrinoides). This aviary is decorated with typical plants of Socotra Island such as dragon blood tree, cucumber tree, Perry's aloe, desert rose, Caralluma socotrana, and Boswellia ameero. But later there will be some trees that are deliberately made artificial to become terrariums for small animals such as leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius), sandfish skink (Scincus scincus), Arabian blue mastigure (Uromastyx ornata philbyi), Kaiser's spotted newt (Neurergus kaiseri), Kurdistan newt (Neurergus derjugini), Arabian sand boa (Eryx jayakari), desert horned viper (Cerastes cerastes), Arabian cobra (Naja arabica), veiled chameleon (Chamaeleo calyptratus), and lesser jerboa (Jaculus jaculus). Of course, these terrariums are located in a sheltered area where there are benches for visitors to view the birds of prey as well as the contents of the terrarium/artificial tree nearby.
 
I had an idea for a zone I called Africa 360° (similar in mechanism to Zoo360 at the Philadelphia Zoo). The difference is that the elevated mesh trail system is also installed through other animal enclosures so that animals passing through the elevated path are not only in the visitor environment but also in the cross-biome enclosure habitat. This zone consists of 2 parts like a fortress (this zone will indeed have a Great Zimbabwe theme), namely the Outer Encounter and the Inner Encounter.

In the Inner Encounter area, there are several types of monkeys, each enclosure of which is equipped with a "time-share" elevated and at-grade transparent tunnel system such as patas monkey (Erythrocebus patas), Wolf's mona monkey (Cercopithecus wolfi), and red-tailed monkey (Cercopithecus ascanius). For this elevated mesh trail system, the monkeys will pass through 4 enclosures outside their respective species' enclosures. The first enclosure is rocky and is decorated with succulent plants. This enclosure contains South African herbivores that can climb high rocks such as klipspringer (Oreotragus oreotragus), steenbok (Raphicerus campestris), Cape ground squirrel (Geosciurus inauris), and rock hyrax (Procavia capensis). The second enclosure will be decorated with native Madagascar vegetation such as baobab trees and thorn trees. The animals that occupy this enclosure include ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta), black lemur (Eulemur macaco), crowned lemur (Eulemur coronatus), and Coquerel's sifaka (Propithecus coquereli). The third enclosure is a semi-aquatic enclosure for African penguins (Spheniscus demersus), where this enclosure is modeled after a rocky beach, and in the water, several shark species do not harm penguins such as pyjama shark (Poroderma africanum) and brown shyshark (Haploblepharus fuscus). The fourth enclosure is a mixed-species net enclosure that is also modeled after a rocky beach but contains native Seychelles and Mauritius animals such as the Aldabra giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea), echo parakeet (Psittacula eques), Seychelles magpie-robin (Copsychus sechellarum), and Rodrigues fruit bat (Pteropus rodricensis).

Meanwhile, in the Inner Encounter area, the contained trail system is shown only for meerkats (Suricata suricatta) because this animal has a complex enclosure, where there is an underground burrow. So the trail system will be made with a playground model and with different materials. The difference with the Outer Encounter where each enclosure is separated by a visitor pathway, for the Inner Encounter, the enclosures are made to be attached to each other and integrated to make it easier for meerkats to pass through the elevated trail system and shorten the time. The first enclosure next to the meerkat enclosure is a mixed-animal enclosure containing Madagascan reptiles such as panther chameleon (Furcifer pardalis), Parson's chameleon (Calumma parsonii), ploughshare tortoise (Astrochelys yniphora), Madagascar giant day gecko (Phelsuma grandis), and Henkel's leaf-tailed gecko (Uroplatus henkeli). The second enclosure is a forest-style enclosure that is set to be nocturnal so that it looks dark because it will be occupied by Senegal bushbaby (Galago senegalensis), four-toed hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris), and tree pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis). The third enclosure is made with a riverbank model because it will be occupied by several African reptiles such as the ball python (Python regius) with several morphs, electric blue gecko (Lygodactylus williamsi), West African mud turtle (Pelusios castaneus), and African helmeted turtle (Pelomedusa subrufa). The fourth enclosure is the largest because it is a coral reef tank containing African coral reef fishes such as orangeback angelfish (Centropyge acanthops), tiger angelfish (Apolemichthys kingi), old woman angelfish (Pomacanthus rhomboides), yellowbar angelfish (Pomacanthus maculosus), goldbar wrasse (Thalassoma hebraicum), agile chromis (Chromis agilis), doublesash butterflyfish (Chaetodon marleyi), brownburnie (Chaetodon blackburnii), speckled shrimpfish (Aeoliscus punctulatus), and Allard's clownfish (Amphiprion allardi). To pass through this coral reef tank, a trail system is made in the form of an acrylic slide so that the meerkats do not stay still in this fourth enclosure. And this slide goes directly to the underground burrow in the meerkat enclosure. Don't worry, because between the third and fourth enclosures, there is a special staff door to the water filter room, so that the meerkats can take a run-up before sliding down past and passing by the coral reef fish.
 
Jonathan Harry said:
I had an idea for a zone I called Africa 360° (similar in mechanism to Zoo360 at the Philadelphia Zoo). The difference is that the elevated mesh trail system is also installed through other animal enclosures so that animals passing through the elevated path are not only in the visitor environment but also in the cross-biome enclosure habitat. This zone consists of 2 parts like a fortress (this zone will indeed have a Great Zimbabwe theme), namely the Outer Encounter and the Inner Encounter.

In the Inner Encounter area, there are several types of monkeys, each enclosure of which is equipped with a "time-share" elevated and at-grade transparent tunnel system such as patas monkey (Erythrocebus patas), Wolf's mona monkey (Cercopithecus wolfi), and red-tailed monkey (Cercopithecus ascanius). For this elevated mesh trail system, the monkeys will pass through 4 enclosures outside their respective species' enclosures. The first enclosure is rocky and is decorated with succulent plants. This enclosure contains South African herbivores that can climb high rocks such as klipspringer (Oreotragus oreotragus), steenbok (Raphicerus campestris), Cape ground squirrel (Geosciurus inauris), and rock hyrax (Procavia capensis). The second enclosure will be decorated with native Madagascar vegetation such as baobab trees and thorn trees. The animals that occupy this enclosure include ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta), black lemur (Eulemur macaco), crowned lemur (Eulemur coronatus), and Coquerel's sifaka (Propithecus coquereli). The third enclosure is a semi-aquatic enclosure for African penguins (Spheniscus demersus), where this enclosure is modeled after a rocky beach, and in the water, several shark species do not harm penguins such as pyjama shark (Poroderma africanum) and brown shyshark (Haploblepharus fuscus). The fourth enclosure is a mixed-species net enclosure that is also modeled after a rocky beach but contains native Seychelles and Mauritius animals such as the Aldabra giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea), echo parakeet (Psittacula eques), Seychelles magpie-robin (Copsychus sechellarum), and Rodrigues fruit bat (Pteropus rodricensis).

Meanwhile, in the Inner Encounter area, the contained trail system is shown only for meerkats (Suricata suricatta) because this animal has a complex enclosure, where there is an underground burrow. So the trail system will be made with a playground model and with different materials. The difference with the Outer Encounter where each enclosure is separated by a visitor pathway, for the Inner Encounter, the enclosures are made to be attached to each other and integrated to make it easier for meerkats to pass through the elevated trail system and shorten the time. The first enclosure next to the meerkat enclosure is a mixed-animal enclosure containing Madagascan reptiles such as panther chameleon (Furcifer pardalis), Parson's chameleon (Calumma parsonii), ploughshare tortoise (Astrochelys yniphora), Madagascar giant day gecko (Phelsuma grandis), and Henkel's leaf-tailed gecko (Uroplatus henkeli). The second enclosure is a forest-style enclosure that is set to be nocturnal so that it looks dark because it will be occupied by Senegal bushbaby (Galago senegalensis), four-toed hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris), and tree pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis). The third enclosure is made with a riverbank model because it will be occupied by several African reptiles such as the ball python (Python regius) with several morphs, electric blue gecko (Lygodactylus williamsi), West African mud turtle (Pelusios castaneus), and African helmeted turtle (Pelomedusa subrufa). The fourth enclosure is the largest because it is a coral reef tank containing African coral reef fishes such as orangeback angelfish (Centropyge acanthops), tiger angelfish (Apolemichthys kingi), old woman angelfish (Pomacanthus rhomboides), yellowbar angelfish (Pomacanthus maculosus), goldbar wrasse (Thalassoma hebraicum), agile chromis (Chromis agilis), doublesash butterflyfish (Chaetodon marleyi), brownburnie (Chaetodon blackburnii), speckled shrimpfish (Aeoliscus punctulatus), and Allard's clownfish (Amphiprion allardi). To pass through this coral reef tank, a trail system is made in the form of an acrylic slide so that the meerkats do not stay still in this fourth enclosure. And this slide goes directly to the underground burrow in the meerkat enclosure. Don't worry, because between the third and fourth enclosures, there is a special staff door to the water filter room, so that the meerkats can take a run-up before sliding down past and passing by the coral reef fish.
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Love your ideas, but maybe this would be better off in a seperate thread.
 
A “canoe-through” river exhibit called “Zambezi Canoe Expeditions”. The idea would be that guests would be provided a canoe (paddles and life jackets included) and would set off on a maze of man-made (and natural if the zoo site allows) rivers and canals past animal exhibits. A species list for the area would include:
Giraffe
Greater Kudu
Impala
Ostrich
Pink-backed Pelican
Red Lechwe
Sitatunga
Waterbuck
White Rhino

This idea would also include a “rapids” section where zoo-guests would have to navigate their canoe through rough waters, as well as a small “dock restaurant” that could serve food along the way.
 
AndyJ08 said:
A “canoe-through” river exhibit called “Zambezi Canoe Expeditions”. The idea would be that guests would be provided a canoe (paddles and life jackets included) and would set off on a maze of man-made (and natural if the zoo site allows) rivers and canals past animal exhibits. A species list for the area would include:
Giraffe
Greater Kudu
Impala
Ostrich
Pink-backed Pelican
Red Lechwe
Sitatunga
Waterbuck
White Rhino

This idea would also include a “rapids” section where zoo-guests would have to navigate their canoe through rough waters, as well as a small “dock restaurant” that could serve food along the way.
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I honestly think this could work very easily irl if you basically designed a “Jungle Cruise” style track that the canoes would move on. The liability of having every zoo attendee actually steer their own canoes without having to sign individual waivers/go through safety training would be the primary barrier to it happening imo. And hey, Georgia Aquarium already has their shark tank cage dive experience built around a track built by the Disney Imagineers…;)
 
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Chlidonias said:
I saw a documentary one time about an animal facility where guests could steer their own glass-bubble vehicles through the animal exhibits. One pair of kids almost got eaten by a dinosaur.
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thankfully, I won’t be summoning my inner John Hammond for this!

In order to ensure guest’s safety, I’ll add in underwater guardrails on either sides of the boat to keep it in the middle of the river, and install security cameras along the way to make sure that no one gets out and decides to “get up close” to the animals
 
Jonathan Harry said:
Then there is a zone called Port Eden which is inspired by the 1996 series The Adventure of Sinbad. This zone contains animals from the Middle East. The main spotlight in this zone is the Persian leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana), which for observation viewing will be in the form of Baghlah, an Arabian sailing ship. In the observation viewing for the leopard, there is also a coral reef tank that is open above it, so that there is underwater viewing when visitors are on the ship's deck. The coral reef tank will contain sohal surgeonfish (Acanthurus sohal), purple tang (Zebrasoma xanthurum), broomtail wrasse (Cheilinus lunulatus), yellow-ear angelfish (Apolemichthys xanthotis), four-line wrasse (Larabicus quadrilineatus), minute wrasse (Minilabrus striatus), sunrise dottyback (Pseudochromis flavivertex), orchid dottyback (Pseudochromis fridmani), striped dottyback (Pseudochromis sankeyi), blue-cheeked butterflyfish (Chaetodon semilarvatus), diagonal butterflyfish (Chaetodon fasciatus), crown butterflyfish (Chaetodon paucifasciatus), hooded butterflyfish (Chaetodon larvatus), white-faced butterflyfish (Chaetodon mesoleucos), Arabian butterflyfish (Chaetodon melapterus), and Red Sea clownfish (Amphiprion bicinctus).

Next to it, there is an aviary zone that is made with a model of islands. This aviary contains birds of prey like bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus), Eurasian griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus), Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus), desert golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos homeyeri), Eurasian osprey (Pandion haliaetus haliaetus), and Barbary falcon (Falco peregrinus pelegrinoides). This aviary is decorated with typical plants of Socotra Island such as dragon blood tree, cucumber tree, Perry's aloe, desert rose, Caralluma socotrana, and Boswellia ameero. But later there will be some trees that are deliberately made artificial to become terrariums for small animals such as leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius), sandfish skink (Scincus scincus), Arabian blue mastigure (Uromastyx ornata philbyi), Kaiser's spotted newt (Neurergus kaiseri), Kurdistan newt (Neurergus derjugini), Arabian sand boa (Eryx jayakari), desert horned viper (Cerastes cerastes), Arabian cobra (Naja arabica), veiled chameleon (Chamaeleo calyptratus), and lesser jerboa (Jaculus jaculus). Of course, these terrariums are located in a sheltered area where there are benches for visitors to view the birds of prey as well as the contents of the terrarium/artificial tree nearby.
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I suggest you forget the Osprey, they’re not easy to keep
 
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